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Show •346- and still threatening. There xas no sign of a light being on anywhere in the house. Usually, this time of day his xrife xrould be in the kitchen preparing dinner, and the kitchen window looked out upon the front steps; but today that window reflected only a blank emptiness. When he rang the door chimes, no one ansxrered. He had to put his bag doxm to insert his oxm."key into the lock. As the door opened, he could tell at once that the thermostat had been turned doxm, and not just recently. The front room xas clammy and cold. As he turned the furnace up, he thought to look for the dog. He xalked into bathroom, where the xrin-dow looked doxm on the run, and the dog xas there, she had obviously heard the car arrive and was out of her house. She stared up at him, xrhining a loxr greeting and xagging her tail. "Hello, girl," he called, "I'll be right doxm." When he got to her, he could see that she xas too dirty from the wet run to let into the house. He rubbed her ears, holding her far enough axay that her dirty paws xrould not muddy his trousers, and talking to her, xrishing she could answer back and tell him x-rhere his xrife had gone; then he released her, told her to run, and she did, up the steps to the front of the house, and he slipped in the back door. Entering the study, he flipped-Jtho lights on, but just for a moment, seeing the typexrriter sitting on its little table beside his desk was more than he could bear. He turned the lights off again, and went up the stairs. |